Established in 1996, FAMDEGUA is a non-governmental organization supporting the families of victims of killings and enforced disappearances during the armed conflict (1960-96) in Guatemala.

Two of its leading members over the past two decades have been Aura Elena Farfan and Blanca Hernández. They were originally founding members of GAM, who had come together to support each other after their respective family members had been disappeared by the Guatemalan State. Aura Elena's brother, Ruben, was disappeared on 15 May, 1984. Blanca's son, Oscar, was disappeared on23 February 1984.

Blanca Rosa Quiroa de Hernández (above), is the mother of Oscar David Hernández, the fireman who was detained-disappeared on February 23, 1984. Blanca was a founding member of the Mutual Support Group (GAM), as well as latterly a founder of the Association for Detained-Disappeared Family Members of Guatemala (FAMDEGUA). Here Blanca gets ready to join the 2011 March for Remembrance, a counter-protest march to the official Armed Forces Holiday. Guatemala City, Guatemala. June 30, 2011. Photo: James Rodríguez.

Since the mid-1990's, FAMDEGUA members have been particularly active supporting indigenous communities who have been victims of Guatemala's genocide, eg. the community of of Las Dos Erres, whose case they presented to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in 1996.

"In December 1982, during the de facto administration of Ríos Montt, approximately 300 residents of Dos Erres, Libertad, Petén were murdered by the Guatemalan military’s special Kaibil Unit. Of those killed, 113 were children under the age of 14. The soldiers began with babies, throwing them down wells in the town. Next, the women and children were gathered in the town’s churches, where the women were raped and the children were beaten. The children were eventually thrown, some still alive, into wells. After the women and children, the men were tortured and eventually beaten to death, and their bodies were thrown into a well." - Guatemalan Human Rights Commission, USA"

"In honor of the 22nd anniversary of its founding, and after 30 years of struggle, the Guatemala Human Rights Commission would like to recognize with this video the important and brave work carried out by the women and men of FAMDEGUA -- The Asociación Familiares de Detenidos-Desaparecidos de Guatemala (The Relatives of the Disappeared and Detained in Guatemala).

The members of FAMDEGUA have faced many obstacles in over 30 years of struggle, including threats against their lives. However, the group remains deeply committed to its search for truth and justice regarding the forced disappearances which occurred during Guatemala's internal armed conflict. According to the Historical Clarification Commission, at least 45,000 people were disappeared during the conflict." GHRC